Say Hello to Roar

A new children’s book reveals how a father battled cancer while coming up with a story to help his children cope with camp

On September 10, a children’s book titled Li’l Roar Dinosaur Goes To Camp, went on sale across Amazon’s websites and that of its publisher, Notion Press. This children’s story, that’s going to be formally launched on September 22, was written by Dr VS Srinivas, who passed away from cancer earlier this year. From a member of his family, we learn that New York-based Srinivas had written the story around a year ago when his twins were having a hard time settling down at camp. After his passing, the cardiologist’s family got a friend, Rohini Sadasivan, to come up with illustrations for the story based on Srinivas’ original drawings, and published it as a book this month. It is meant to be a read-aloud book for children between three and five, and given Srinivas’ passion towards working for children with cancer, his family decided to give all the proceeds from its sale, to a city-based organisation, Ray of Light Foundation, that has been working with children affected by the disease, for 12 years now.

All for a cause

“We have helped 100 children over 12 years,” says Dr Priya Ramachandran, founder trustee of Ray of Light. “We take one child at a time and make sure he/she has access to the best medical care available,” she adds, explaining that it costs around `5 lakh and over two-and-a-half years of treatment for each child. In some instances, a single day in the ICU can generate bills in lakhs of rupees.

But thanks to the contributions of several donors who have come to support them over the years, the organisation is now also able to focus on getting their children to interact with others, to become more outgoing. At their Rose Day celebration on September 22, cancer survivors will interact with students from the American International School and Srinivas’ book will also be distributed to them.

Li’l Roar Dinosaur Goes To Camp is priced at Rs 195 on notionpress.com/store and amazon.com

Details: rayoflightindia.com

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